Report:
Firstly, many thanks to all those that turned up to support us on
Saturday. It was fantastic and greatly appreciated by all of the
guys on the pitch. It was an awesome feeling looking (not that I wasn't concentrating on the ball of course - you didn't hear that from
me Leon) over to see the sideline filled with people and I can only
apologise that we didn't give you a goal to cheer.The day started brightly, we were ready and eager. Even Jack allowed extra time to get himself warmed up…..
Admittedly he thought it was a noon push back as he rocked up at 11.55.
It was always
going to be a close game knowing the oppo so well. Despite the
motivation and determination to be quick off the mark against our most
local of rivals the sluggish New Beccs start was again in evidence. HSBC
put us under a little early pressure but the defence held firm.
Strangely it took the early yellow card earnt by Mr Willoughby for us to
buck our ideas up. Down to 10 we became much the stronger side.
And as Pete came back on the movement continued to improve, the passing
improved and Brendan was making some cunning weasel esque runs
upfront - which their defence were unable to cope with. One such
run was picked out by a sublime through ball only for Brendon to find
himself rudely deposited on the floor by the on rushing keeper. A
short corner was the reward but alas the routine lacked its usual
slickness and we failed to put the strike on target this proved to be a
problem that would haunt us all afternoon.
The game continued with New Beccs in dominant form with Rich Skip and
Alex 'Alan' Ram snuffing out any attacks down the left before
launching some great attacks down the wings. Kez and Matty D were
proving equally effective down the right flank. Jack snuck in a
sneaky reverse stick shot which inadvertently hit their keeper much to
their goalie's surprise. Any time HSBC did manage to get near the
22 Tom, Heady and the returning Andy put in some decisive strong
tackles. The half continued with end to end hockey, more tense than
champagne, but Leon proved adept at stopping the odd shot that was snuck
in on target.
Half time came with the score still at 0-0 but confident of the right
result. Jack and Matty D were making some great runs up front.
Short corners were being won and we were confident the goal was soon to
come. The closest we came was toenail save from the HSBC
keeper after a Heady short corner strike. The HSBC left back
decided to swap sports and rugby tackled Matty Davies - to be fair we
were surprised he managed to catch Matt up let alone take him down.
Calamity struck, HSBC managed to sneak a breakthrough. Your
humble reporter would love to say it was a lucky, deflected strike that
spun, dribbled and trickled into the goal. But, credit where credits due the player they know merely as
'the hobbit' found a
modicum of space where none seemed present and left Leon with no chance
from the edge of the D.
We upped the ante desperate for the equaliser and started to camp in
the HSBC 22, camped so much that we were surprised not to find a
bonfire, lots of tents and a chorus of 'ging gang goolly'. Alas,
we failed to put the shots on target and the clock beat us to leave the
final score 1-0. On to Crawley next week, where we will be looking
to improve and notch another 3 points. |